Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a group of infectious diseases that are endemic in a
number of developing countries including countries in the African Region. They are usually
associated with heat and humidity in tropical settings as well as poverty and illiteracy. NTDs affect,
almost exclusively, poor and powerless people living in the rural parts of low-income countries, and
are given little attention, hence the term “neglected”. Most of them are vector-borne, transmitted by
mosquitoes, black flies, sand flies, tsetse flies and snails. A few are transmitted through contaminated
waters and soils.1
2. NTDs can be bacterial or parasitic. In the African Region, NTDs most frequently found are
Guinea worm disease (targeted for eradication), leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, human
African trypanosomiasis (targeted for elimination), schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis,
Buruli ulcer, yaws and other endemic treponematosis, leishmaniasis, and trachoma (targeted for
control).